IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/4144.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investment, Wages and Ownership During the Transition to a Market Economy: Evidence from Slovenian Firms

Author

Listed:
  • ,
  • Svejnar, Jan

Abstract

Given the concern about restructuring and the role of insiders during the transition, we analyse the determinants of (and trade-off between) investment and wages in Slovenian firms. We find that investment behaviour is more consistent with the imperfect capital market (internal funds) hypothesis than with the neoclassical or accelerator models. Firms also display a trade-off between investment and wages, and workers share in firms’ surplus and appropriate funds that are supposed to be used for depreciation investment. Most findings are consistent with the principal theoretical models of restructuring. The models, however, underestimate the power of (elite) managers to restrain worker demands and overestimate this power on the part of external owners.

Suggested Citation

  • , & Svejnar, Jan, 2003. "Investment, Wages and Ownership During the Transition to a Market Economy: Evidence from Slovenian Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 4144, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP4144
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Svejnar, Jan, 1986. "Bargaining Power, Fear of Disagreement, and Wage Settlements: Theory and Evidence from U.S. Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(5), pages 1055-1078, September.
    2. Lubomir Lizal & Jan Svejnar, 1997. "Enterprise Investment During the Transition: Evidence from Czech Panel Data," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 60, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    3. Aghion, Philippe & Blanchard, Olivier & Burgess, Robin, 1994. "The behaviour of state firms in eastern Europe, pre-privatisation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1327-1349, June.
    4. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    5. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    6. J Earle & S Estrin & L Leshchenko, 1996. "Ownership Structures," CEP Discussion Papers dp0315, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    8. Lubomír Lízal, 1999. "Depreciation rates in a transition economy: evidence from czech panel data," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 1999(3).
    9. Philippe Aghion & Olivier Jean Blanchard & Wendy Carlin, 1997. "The Economics of Enterprise Restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe," International Economic Association Series, in: John E. Roemer (ed.), Property Relations, Incentives and Welfare, chapter 11, pages 271-325, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Abel, Andrew B & Blanchard, Olivier J, 1986. "The Present Value of Profits and Cyclical Movements in Investment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(2), pages 249-273, March.
    11. Meyendorff, Anna & Snyder, Edward A., 1997. "Transactional Structures of Bank Privatizations in Central Europe and Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 5-30, August.
    12. Janez Prasnikar & Jan Svejnar, 1991. "Workers' Participation in Management vs. Social Ownership and Government Policies: Yugoslav Lessons for Transforming Socialist Economies*," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 27-45, December.
    13. Saul Estrin & Robert E. Moore & Jan Svejnar, 1988. "Market Imperfections, Labor Management, and Earnings Differentials in a Developing Country: Theory and Evidence from Yugoslavia," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(3), pages 465-478.
    14. Terrell, Katherine, 1992. "Productivity of western and domestic capital in polish industry," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 494-514, September.
    15. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    16. Blanchard, O. & Aghion, P., 1996. "On insider privatization," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 759-766, April.
    17. Thornton, Judith, 1970. "Value-Added and Factor Productivity in Soviet Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(5), pages 863-871, December.
    18. Jorgenson, Dale W, 1971. "Econometric Studies of Investment Behavior: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1111-1147, December.
    19. Terrell, Katherine, 1993. "Technical Change and Factor Bias in Polish Industry (1962-1983)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 741-747, November.
    20. Prasnikar, Janez, et al, 1994. "Behavior of Participatory Firms in Yugoslavia: Lessons for Transforming Economies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(4), pages 728-741, November.
    21. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    22. Burda, Michael C, 1992. "Unemployment, Labour Market Institutions and Structural Change in Eastern Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 746, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lubomir Lizal, 1999. "Does a Soft Macroeconomic Environment Induce Restructuring on the Microeconomic Level during the Transition Period? Evidence from Investment Behavior of Czech Enterprises," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 235, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    2. Polona Domadenik & Lubomír Lízal & Marko Pahor, 2012. "The Effect of Enterprise Break-Ups on Performance. The Case of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 63(5), pages 849-866.
    3. Curtiss, Jarmila & Ratinger, Tomáš & Medonos, Tomáš, 2012. "Ownership and Investment Behaviour in Transition Countries: A Case Study of Collective and Corporate Farms in the Czech Republic," Factor Markets Working Papers 121, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    4. Curtiss, Jarmila & Ratinger, Tomas & Medonos, Tomas, 2012. "Ownership and Investment Behaviour in Transition Countries: A Case Study of Collective and Corporate Farms in the Czech Republic," Working papers 122841, Factor Markets, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    5. Jan Babecky & Kamil Galuscak & Diana Zigraiova, 2017. "Wage Dynamics and Financial Performance: Evidence from Czech Firms," Working Papers 2017/14, Czech National Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lubomír Lízal & Jan Svejnar, 2002. "Investment, Credit Rationing, And The Soft Budget Constraint: Evidence From Czech Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 353-370, May.
    2. Lubomir Lizal & Jan Svejnar, 2000. "Financial Conditions and Investment during the Transition: Evidence from Czech Firms," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp153, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    3. Lizal, L., 1999. "Does a Soft Macroeconomic Environment Induce Restructuring on the Microeconomic Level during the Transition Period? Evidence from Investment Behavior of Czech Enterprises," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp147, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Jacques Mairesse & Bronwyn H. Hall & Benoît Mulkay, 1999. "Firm-Level Investment in France and the United States: An Exploration of What We Have Learned in Twenty Years," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 55-56, pages 27-67.
    5. Lensink, Robert & Sterken, Elmer, 2000. "Capital Market Imperfections, Uncertainty and Corporate Investment in the Czech Republic," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 33(1-2), pages 53-70.
    6. Valentina Peruzzi, 2017. "Does family ownership structure affect investment-cash flow sensitivity? Evidence from Italian SMEs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(43), pages 4378-4393, September.
    7. Marian Rizov, 2004. "Firm investment in transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(4), pages 721-746, December.
    8. Laeven, Luc, 2000. "Does financial liberalization relax financing constraints on firms ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2467, The World Bank.
    9. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    10. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    11. Polona Domadenik & Janez Prasnikar & Jan Svejnar, 2008. "How to Increase R&D in Transition Economies? Evidence from Slovenia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 193-208, February.
    12. Robert E. Carpenter & Bruce C. Petersen, 2002. "Capital Market Imperfections, High-Tech Investment, and New Equity Financing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 54-72, February.
    13. Simon Gilchrist & Charles Himmelberg, 1999. "Investment: Fundamentals and Finance," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1998, volume 13, pages 223-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    15. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Annalisa Croce, 2010. "The Effect of Venture Capital Financing on the Sensitivity to Cash Flow of Firm's Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 528-551, September.
    16. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October.
    17. Jevgenijs Steinbuks, 2008. "Financial constraints and firms' investment: results of a natural experiment measuring firm response to power interruption," Working Papers EPRG 0823, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    18. Antônio Marcos Hoelz Pinto Ambrozio & Filipe Lage de Sousa & João Paulo Martin Faleiros & André Albuquerque Sant'Anna, 2017. "Credit scarcity in developing countries: An empirical investigation using Brazilian firm-level data," Economia, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics], vol. 17(1), pages 73-87.
    19. Marian Rizov, 2002. "Budget Constraints and Profitability: Evidence from a Transition Economy," LICOS Discussion Papers 11602, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    20. Stephen Bond & Dietmar Harhoff & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Investment, R&D and Financial Constraints in Britain and Germany," NBER Chapters, in: Contributions in Memory of Zvi Griliches, pages 433-460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    investment; Wages; Restructuring; Ownership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.